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5. OPERATING
STATUS REPORT – MARCH 31, 2009 RAPPORT
D’ÉTAPE DES DÉPENSES DE FONCTIONNEMENT – 31 MARS 2009 |
COMMITTEE
RECOMMENDATIONS
That Council:
1. Receive
this report for information;
2. Approve
the presentation format and process for future Standing Committee specific
Quarterly Status reports; and
3.
Adjust
the winter operations budget as outlined in this report.
RECOMMANDATIONS DU COMITÉ
Que le Conseil :
1. prenne connaissance de ce rapport;
2. approuve le format et le processus de présentation
pour les prochains rapports d’étape trimestriels destinés spécifiquement au
comité permanent; et
3. ajuste le
budget de fonctionnement d’hiver en fonction des explications du présent
rapport.
DOCUMENTATION
1. City
Treasurer’s report dated 12 May 2009 (ACS2008-CMR-FIN-0020)
2. Extract of
Draft Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee Minutes, 19 May
2009
3. Extract of
Draft Transportation Committee Minutes, 20 May 2009
Report to/Rapport au :
Submitted by/Soumis par : Marian Simulik, City Treasurer/Trésorière municipale
Contact
Person/Personne ressource: Tom Fedec,
Manager, Budget and Financial Planning, Finance/ Gestionnaire, Planification
budgétaire et financière, Finances
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SUBJECT: |
OPERATING STATUS REPORT – MARCH 31, 2009 |
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OBJET : |
RAPPORT
D’ÉTAPE DES DÉPENSES DE FONCTIONNEMENT – 31 MARS 2009 |
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That the
Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee recommend Council:
1. Receive
this report for information;
2. Approve
the presentation format and process for future Standing Committee specific
Quarterly Status reports; and
3. Adjust
the winter operations budget as outlined in this report.
RECOMMANDATIONS
DU RAPPORT
Que le
Comité des services organisationnels et du développement économique recommande
que le Conseil :
1. prenne connaissance de ce rapport;
2. approuve le format et le processus de
présentation pour les prochains rapports d’étape trimestriels destinés
spécifiquement au comité permanent; et
3. ajuster le budget de fonctionnement
d’hiver en fonction des explications du présent rapport.
This report represents the first of three “Quarterly Operating Status” reports that will be prepared during 2009 showing actual spending and revenues against amounts budgeted. A detailed forecast for 2009 is not provided at this point in the year, but will be included in the June 30th and September 30th reports.
The year-to-date actual expenditures and revenues are compared against the budget for the corresponding time frame. Departmental and branch budgets have been “calendarized’ to account for the seasonal nature of various City services and allow for the matching of actual spending or revenues against the budget for the same time period, instead of against the whole year’s budget. This format allows City management to detect potential spending or revenue issues at an earlier point in the year and implement corrective actions where required.
The presentation of first quarter results in Document 1 segregates the tax-supported programs from the rate-supported programs. This is in keeping with Council’s direction to separately review and approve the budget for these programs.
Document 2 provides compensation information showing the actual salary / benefits and overtime costs incurred by department / branch to March 31st versus the full year budget while Document 3 provides projected year-end balances for the various City capital and operating reserves.
The financial information, as contained in the attached Documents to
this report, are presented under the new organizational structure as approved
by Council on March 28, 2009. At this
point in time, not all the realignments and transfers of branch budgets have
been completed. Therefore, the level of
detail presented in the report has been maintained at a departmental
level. Future reports will provide
detail at the branch level once all the adjustments have been processed.
Since 2004, staff have been preparing “Quarterly Operating Status” reports on a corporate basis. These reports have been presented to Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee for information and then on to Council. At the August 28, 2008 Council meeting, the following motion was carried:
Moved by Councillor D. Deans
Seconded by
Councillor R. Jellett
BE IT RESOLVED THAT
the Standing Committees of Council be provided with status reports to review
the actual operating and capital results of their respective departments on a
quarterly basis during 2009 and subsequent years.
This report will
address Motion 41/33, along with providing a presentation format and process
for Committee and Council consideration.
Departments have allocated their 2009 budgets on a monthly / quarterly basis based primarily on past experience. Programs such as winter maintenance and recreational programs (outdoor pools / beaches) have definite seasonal spending patterns. There are other program expenditures or revenues which are not seasonal in nature or do not occur evenly through the year. These are therefore more difficult to allocate to a specific month or months. These types of program costs or revenues may occur at specific time periods during the year, for example, a maintenance contract may be expected to be paid by the end of March – therefore the budget is reflected in March. However, delays in the receipt of the invoice or payment delays may result in the actual posting of the expenditure in April, resulting in a misalignment of the actuals with budget.
Document 1 to this report shows the first quarter actual expenditures
and revenues compared to the same period budget. For reference purposes, the annual budget for the branch or
program area is also provided. At this
point in the year, it would be expected that the majority of actual results
against budget for the first quarter would be close to the 100% level. The June 30th Status Report will
provide a better indication as to whether spending and revenues are tracking to
budget.
As can be seen from Document 1, the majority of departmental and
non-departmental programs are tracking to budget, although there are a few
areas that show a higher than expected variance for the first quarter. All departments have been asked to review
their first quarter results to ensure that their respective spending and
revenue results are not indicative of any underlying issues needing to be
highlighted or addressed at this time.
Additional information on specific program areas is provided below where
a significant variance from budget has occurred.
Expenditures for winter maintenance activities were greater than budget in the first quarter due to higher levels of snowfall in January. These higher costs were partially offset by savings in the later part of the quarter due to lower snow volumes. However, this resulted in an earlier start to the spring clean-up operations, which is normally scheduled to begin in the second quarter. The branch will be reviewing cost control measures in order to stay within the overall 2009 budget allocation.
Transit Services
The Transit Services operating budget has been updated to reflect the changes approved by Council in March along with adjusting the monthly calanderization to account for the service disruption. Revenues for the first quarter are significantly higher than projected due to fewer strike related refunds of December transit pass sales, along with higher rider-ship volumes since the resumption of transit services. Staff will be monitoring the rider-ship numbers and will provide a further update on revenues in the second quarter report.
Revenues from water and sewer billings are significantly lower than projected for the first quarter. Consumption levels have declined over the past five years, reflecting the impacts of environmental awareness and conservation efforts arising from higher user rates. Revised projections will be provided in the June 30th Operating Status report.
A portion of the cash inflows
that the City receives during the course of the year from property taxes,
utility bills, provincial and federal revenues along with other user fees, is
not required immediately on a cash flow basis to meet
all the financial obligations of the City and is therefore held in a
variety of short-term investments. These investments are held in financial
instruments, which have varying maturities to coincide with the timing of
the projected cash outflows for operational and capital expenditures
during the course of the year. The 2009
budget had assumed that the City could earn the same rate of return on its
investments as in 2008. Currently, the
blended investment returns being achieved are averaging less than half of the
2008 returns.
Staff will be reviewing the situation and will provide an update in the next status report.
The 2009 dividend payment from Ottawa Hydro was estimated to be $14 million. On April 7th, the Board of Ottawa Hydro informed Council that the 2009 payment will be increased to $17.2 million. These additional funds will be reflected in the second quarter status report.
A summary of the budget adjustments and transfers made in the first quarter of 2009, either through the delegated authority given to the City Treasurer or through Council-approved reports, is presented below. Reclassification or corrections of departmental expenditure, recovery or revenue budgets are not reflected in this table.
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Table 1 – Budget Adjustments and Transfers |
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Nature of Budget
Adjustment |
Amount
($Millions) |
Funding
Source
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Net Effect on Budget
Revenues and Expenditures |
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Additional
provincial funding for Sexual Health. (Public Health) |
0.004 |
Provincial
Funding |
Increase in Revenue and
Expenditure |
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Establish
Property Standards related to Graffitti. (By-Law) |
0.200 |
Fine
Revenue |
Increase in Revenue and
Expenditure |
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New
funding for Best Starts program. (Child Care) |
0.010 |
Provincial
Funding |
Increase in Revenue and
Expenditure |
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Reduction
in Cancer Care Ontario program. (Public Health) |
0.050 |
Provincial
Funding |
Decrease in Revenue and
Expenditure |
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Reduction
in funding for the CACC Service from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term
Care (Paramedic) |
0.050 |
Provincial
Funding |
Decrease in Revenue and
Expenditure |
Adjustments to reflect the achievement of productivity targets have also been processed in the first quarter, which have either reduced the total expenditure budget or increased the total revenue budget.
The total effect of the above adjustments results in a decrease in the gross revenue and expenditure budgets of $0.265 million.
Additional adjustments between branches within a department or between departments were made to reflect administrative adjustments and to realign program costs and revenues. These adjustments do not result in any increase or decrease to the total corporate expenditure or revenue budgets.
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Table 2 – Inter & Intra-departmental Budget
Adjustments & Transfers |
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$Millions |
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Redistribution
of fuel cost savings from Fleet Services to branch clients |
(0.350) |
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Operational
requirements for winter improvements (see below) |
0.350 |
On September 24, 2008 Council adopted the recommendations as set forth in
the staff report entitled “Snow Clearing of Bus Stops and Operational
Improvements Recommendations based on the 2007/2008 Winter Review”. Staff was directed to include the
capital requirements for five additional plow units along with the associated
operational requirements in the 2009 budget.
During the 2009 budget process, Council
approved the capital requirements for the additional plow units. However, the Operating Omnibus motion as
adopted by Council inadvertently included the elimination of the $0.640 million
winter operational improvements, which included the operational funding for
these units ($0.240 million) and additional snow removal funds ($0.400
million).
As a result of the budget reductions to reflect
the fuel cost savings, it is recommended that these savings be used to
reinstate the operating requirements for the plow units along with providing
for a portion of the snow removal funds.
The branch has indicated that it will review and manage the operational
improvements within this funding provision.
Management Efficiency
Targets
Council approved $100
million in productivity and efficiency targets to be achieved utilizing four
approaches:
1. Productivity – to be
achieved through continuous improvement initiatives to ongoing administration
and service delivery operations.
2. Technology – to be
achieved by conducting a business case analysis on each of the proposed
technology investments.
3. Asset Rationalization
– to be realized from facility closures or consolidation
4. Procurement – to be
identified through a consultant facilitated analysis of overall corporate
procurement strategies.
The amount of savings
to be achieved in 2009 is summarized below.
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2009 Target |
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2008 Carry Forward |
2009 Increase |
Total Target |
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Productivity |
3.74 |
17.80 |
21.54 |
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Asset Rationalization |
2.00 |
- |
2.00 |
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Technology Investment |
- |
5.00 |
5.00 |
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Procurement |
10.52 |
(5.00) |
5.52 |
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Target Total |
16.26 |
17.80 |
34.06 |
The 2009 targets for
Productivity have been assigned to departments while the Asset Rationalization,
Technology and Procurement targets are held in the non-departmental section of
the City’s corporate budget. As departmental
specific savings related to these three targets are identified through the
course of the year, the departmental and non-departmental budgets are adjusted
accordingly.
It is difficult to
project when these targets will be achieved during the year. As reflected in Document 1, for budget
presentation purposes these non-departmental targets have been calanderized on
the basis of 25% per quarter.
A status report on
efficiency savings is to be presented to Committee and Council later this
Spring.
Corporate Vacancy
Policy
As outlined in the
August 31, 2008 Operating Status report, City management has implemented a
two-tier approach to account for compensation savings that occur from vacancies
during the course of the year.
The first tier
establishes a base vacancy allowance target within the departmental budgets
based on 1.6% of their respective compensation budget. A target of $10.3 million for tax-supported
programs and $0.7 million for rate-supported programs is to be managed by the
departmental management teams.
The second tier
establishes an “unallocated vacancy provision” based on approximately 1% of the
City’s total compensation budget. This
equates to a $7.0 million target for the tax supported programs and $0.4 million
for rate-supported programs. These
amounts are to be held in the City’s non-departmental account and allocated
quarterly after a branch-by-branch analysis has been conducted to identify
savings that are in excess of the base vacancy allowance targets.
The 2009 budget as
presented in this report, reflects the 2008 allocation of the tier-two vacancy
provision within each of the City departments.
A complete review of the allocation in conjunction with the recent
corporate organizational changes is currently being done and an update will be
provided in the June 30 Status report.
Future Quarterly
Status Reports
As stated previously, Council has directed that future status reports be prepared and submitted to each Standing Committee on a quarterly basis to review the actual operating and capital results of their respective departments. In order to ensure that all the necessary budget adjustments and alignments have been processed to accurately reflect the recent corporate reorganization, staff is planning to provide these reports to the Standing Committees effective with the June 30 month-end results.
Attached as Document 4, is a listing of the new departments and branches that would align under the various Standing Committees of Council. Document 5 and 6 provide a sample of the proposed level of detail to be provided in the quarterly status reports. The example used in these two attachments is for Fire Services.
The operating status information in Document 5 shows the various Fire Service programs, along with providing details on expenditures and revenues by type. This breakdown of information is provided for the current quarter and for the 2009 forecast. The financial information for both the June 30 actuals and 2009 forecast are for illustrative purposes only.
In Document 6, a listing of all current Fire related capital projects is proposed to be provided showing the approved budgetary provisions and actual project-to-date results for the period in question.
A covering report would be provided to the Committee, which would contain explanatory notes, where required, along with highlighting any operational or capital related issues.
Future corporate level status reports will
continue to be prepared. Subject to the
outcomes of the governance review, this report will be submitted to either the
Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee or to a new Finance and
Audit Committee.
During the course of
the year, Council will approve reports that may have funding implications for
the 2010 operating budget. This section of the
Quarterly report is provided to
keep Council apprised of their decisions and the impacts on the 2010
budget. In the January 1st
to March 31st time period, no reports have been approved with 2010
funding implications.
All departments were consulted in the
preparation of this report.
Subject to Committee and Council approval, the report recommendations will result in an increase of $0.350 million to the Winter operations budget and a corresponding reduction to the Fleet Services fuel budget.
There are no legal or risk management impediments to implementing the recommendations in this report.
Document
1 – 2009 Operating Status Report as of March 31, 2009.
Document
2 – 2009 Compensation Report as of March 31, 2009
Document 3 – Projected 2009 Year-end Reserve and Reserve Fund
Balances
Document 4 – City Departments by Standing Committees
Document 5 – Proposed
sample format - Standing Committee Operating status reports
Document 6 – Proposed
sample format - Standing Committee Capital listing
DISPOSITION
Financial Services will make the necessary adjustments to reflect the
decisions of Committee and Council.
OPERATING
STATUS REPORT – MARCH 31, 2009
RAPPORT D’ÉTAPE
DES DÉPENSES DE FONCTIONNEMENT – 31 MARS 2009
ACS2009-CMR-FIN-0020 city wide / À l’Échelle de la ville
Ms. Marian Simulik, City Treasurer, spoke to a PowerPoint presentation, which served to provide Committee with an overview of the report. A copy of this presentation is held on file with the City Clerk.
Responding to a question from Councillor El-Chantiry with respect to the report’s reference to the corporate vacancy policy, Ms. Simulik indicated the purpose of including an explanation about the policy was to alert members of Council to the fact that vacancy information did not appear as it should in the current report. She explained that there were two components to the vacancy policy; a 1.6% base vacancy allowance target within departmental budgets; and an unallocated vacancy provision, which sits in non-departmental and is allocated every quarter based on which departments had savings on their compensation line. Unfortunately, because of the re-organization, management staff had not gotten to the process of allocating the first quarters. This would be included in the next quarterly report.
Councillor El-Chantiry wondered if all the shifting within the departments would make that branch-by-branch analysis more challenging. Ms. Simulik maintained that departmentally, the 1.6% would not change. However, because of the re-organization, Deputy City Managers would need to look at how the allocation fell out because in the old structure, not every branch had 1.6%. Depending on their functions, some would have more and some less. This had not yet happened but it would be done in time for the June report. At the same time, Financial Services would do its work with respect to looking at which areas had more savings in compensation than anticipated and assign them a temporary gapping number. She stated the re-organization did not make the work more difficult, it just meant having to wait for the structure to settle before looking at the over-all picture and then making adjustments.
Councillor El-Chantiry noted that in the past, a number of vacant positions had been retained in the budget. He wondered if the re-organization would make it more difficult to determine which vacant positions needed to be maintained and which could be permanently eliminated. Ms. Simulik maintained that the base did not change; established positions were established positions. She explained that, as part of ongoing efficiency targets, management staff tracked how long positions were vacant so that there was an evaluation in terms of the need to retain positions having been vacant for six months or more. Though she stood to be corrected by staff from Human Resources, she believed members of Council were still being provided with vacancy reports. She re-iterated that although the numbers were shifting, the base remained the same. Therefore the task was not any more complex. However, there had been a delay in presenting the data, which would be rectified with the June report.
Councillor El-Chantiry asked that someone from Human Resources attend the meeting when the June report would come forward. Ms. Simulik responded affirmatively.
Councillor El-Chantiry referenced recommendation 3, which asked that Committee and Council adjust the winter operations budget, and he wondered if it was normal to make such adjustments as part of the quarterly report. Ms. Simulik explained that the recommendation had been included as part of the current report because, during the budget process, Council cut the money for this operating account and because it was specifically removed, it could not be funded without Council’s expressed permission.
Speaking to the issue of vacancies, Councillor Wilkinson reported having heard from some staff that when someone was on maternity leave or disability, they could not always be replaced because the department was still paying for them from their budget. Ms. Simulik believed that vacancy reports identified the number of positions that were vacant due to long-term disability or maternity leave. Therefore, these were not declared vacant.
Councillor Wilkinson explained her concern did not stem from whether or not those positions appeared on the vacancy report. It stemmed from the fact that in some cases, managers could not put another person in the position to do the job because they were still paying for the employee who was away on leave. Ms. Simulik suggested this was an HR policy issue, not a Finance issue. However, she offered to bring it to the attention of HR staff to see if something could be done to address it.
Councillor Wilkinson wondered, rather than investing in the bank, whether the City could debenture its own projects, pay the interest to itself and keep the income flowing in this way. Ms. Simulik explained that the City did not invest in the banks. It had a list of investments in its investment policy, which was dictated by the Municipal Act, and it included provincial, federal and municipal bonds as well as debentures. She indicated the City did buy its own debentures when these came up, but that the rate of return was no better than on other investment vehicles. She maintained that for the investment fund, the question was not the vehicle but rather it was the term. She explained that the City needed a certain amount of cash on hand to deal with daily requirements and would have to essentially put it into less than three-month investments in order to ensure adequate cash on hand. She reported that staff was trying to determine how much could be moved into longer term investments (anywhere from a year to five years) and to be a little more precise with the cash forecasts in order to be able to move money from short-term to longer-term investments, which had a better rate of return.
Responding to a follow-up question from Councillor Wilkinson with respect to the cost of borrowing, Ms. Simulik indicated all of the City’s debentures were at fixed rates. Therefore, lower interest rates did not have an immediate corresponding impact on the operating budget. She explained that the debentures issued last year were at about 5%. However, this year’s debentures should reflect the fact that borrowing costs were down. Having said that, she reported that the Bank of Canada rate had dropped significantly, which meant the short-term returns were dropping and the spread between the Bank of Canada and what the City paid had actually widened. Therefore, the impact had not been as dramatic as the decrease in short-term rates.
Responding to questions from Councillor Wilkinson with respect to the Transit budget, Ms. Simulik reminded Committee that in approving the revised Transit Budget, Council had approved about $22M to fund the Transit revenue shortfall as well as the cost of mitigation measures in various other departments; Public Works, Social Services, etc. Therefore, the amount reflected at page 36, under Corporate Common Expenditures, reflected the contribution from Transit into non-departmental in order to not have Transit reserves flowing into the other departments’ budgets. She explained that at the end of the year, these costs would be functionalized into the respective service areas.
Councillor Cullen referenced the management efficiency targets, noting that the original 2009 target was $17.8M and $16M had been carried forward from last year. He noted that management efficiencies were not supposed to affect front-line services and he submitted that the statement contained in the report, with respect to it being difficult to project when these would be achieved, was an understatement. Mr. Kirkpatrick reported that the previous week, he had discussed this issue with the Deputy City Managers of City Operations and of Infrastructure Services and Community Sustainability as well as the City Treasurer and the City Solicitor, that they would be coming forward in June with a status report and that they were confident they would achieve the productivity savings targets allocated through the 2009 budget, including the carry-over from the previous year. He indicated management had issues in the areas of asset rationalization and the procurement strategy and that they would be bringing forward new strategies in this regard.
Responding to a follow-up question from Councillor Cullen with respect to asset rationalization and the white papers on the Recreation Master Plan, Mr. Kirkpatrick confirmed that there was a debate with respect to some of the older and/or smaller facilities and whether or not some should be closed down. He reminded Committee that, during deliberations on the 2009 budget, Council had made some decisions that directly affected the issue of asset rationalization, particularly in terms of closure or consolidation of local facilities.
Councillor Bloess referenced the August 2008 Council directive with respect to status reports being presented to the various Standing Committees and he noted the variances highlighted in the current report with respect to the winter operations budget. He wondered when this would be presented to the Transportation Committee. Ms. Simulik explained that because of the re-organization, there had not been sufficient time to get the budget aligned so the current report could be presented to the various Standing Committees. She re-iterated that staff proposed to do this beginning with the June 30th quarterly report.
Responding to follow-up comments from Councillor Bloess with respect to not wanting to wait until June for Transportation Committee to be seized with information relative to the variances in the winter operations budget, Mr. Kirkpatrick indicated he would speak to the Deputy City Manager of City Operations and the General Manager of Public Works to see if they could do a quick presentation at the following day’s Transportation Committee meeting.
Vice-Chair Desroches referenced the overtime statistics. He wondered if the high figure related to seasonal work or whether there had been some analysis done, given the concerns Council had raised over the years with respect to overtime. Ms. Simulik remarked that over-all, the City was at 37% with respect to overtime. She confirmed that it was not seasonal. However, she indicated there had not been an analysis as to whether or not 37% was abnormal, though staff could take direction in this regard and provide information prior to the current report rising to Council.
At this juncture, Committee voted to approve the report recommendations.
That the
Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee recommend Council:
1. Receive
this report for information;
2. Approve
the presentation format and process for future Standing Committee specific
Quarterly Status reports; and
3. Adjust
the winter operations budget as outlined in this report.
CARRIED
DIRECTIONS TO STAFF:
1. When
the June 30, 2009 Operating Status Report comes forward, that someone from
Human Resources be in attendance to speak to vacancy provisions.
2. That
the City Treasurer provide, in time for Council’s consideration of this report,
an analysis of the figures reported with respect to overtime.
ADDITIONAL ITEM
POINTS SUPPLÉMENTAIRES
Winter Operations
Expenditures
City Wide / À l’Échelle de la ville
Moved by
J. Legendre
That the Transportation Committee approve the addition of this item for consideration by the Committee at today’s meeting, pursuant to Section 84(3) of the Procedure By-law (being By-law no. 2006-462).
CARRIED
John
Manconi, General Manager of Public Works explained that as a result of a
question raised at yesterdays Corporate Services and Economic Development
Committee meeting, he was asked to give the Transportation Committee the
rationale why costs were so high for the first quarter spending on Winter
Operations. He reminded Committee
members that he and the City Treasurer agreed to move to a five-year average in
terms of budgeting, and the Department is trying to get its operations in line
with that.
Referring
to a “Winter Weather Update” chart, Mr. Manconi illustrated how winter
operations are tracked, including the maximum and minimum snowfalls Ottawa has
experienced. The following points were
highlighted:
·
while there is
the perception that last winter was a mild one, between November and December
there was nearly as much snow as there was the previous year; the average
snowfall for December and January is 52 cm and 58 cm respectively; the city
received 85 cm and 80 cm respectively in 2008/09
·
additional costs
($600,000) were incurred for snow removal as a result of the transit strike
·
staff examine
winter operation patterns to get ahead by widening residential streets sooner
and undertaking specialized operations to create capacity at snow removal
facilities
Mr. Manconi
was confident that if there is an average snowfall during November and
December, the Department will meet the established budget. A copy of the chart is held on file.
In response
to a question posed by Councillor Bloess, Mr. Manconi advised that the big cost
drivers in winter operations are salting and snow removal. These, combined with the other two elements
mentioned previously, i.e., widening residential streets earlier and getting
out to snow disposal areas a little earlier, had an impact on this
quarter. While he understood that staff
tried to get ahead by pushing and blowing the snow off, Councillor Bloess explained
that the results of doing that were horrendous. He related examples of where residents have had winterkill, or
have had their lawns dug up or irrigation systems driven over and wondered
whether a happy medium, that is less costly and less damaging to property,
could be reached.
The General
Manager offered that other factors contribute to winterkill, such as early
frost, but many who complain about that, are the same ones that complain about
having too-narrow streets during the winter, hence the improvements to widen
those streets during heavy snowfalls.
He advised that staff try to maintain a balance whereby the streets are
cleared enough without incurring damage to lawns and plow operators are
instructed during the early winter storms to stay off the lawns.
The
councillor indicated he would discuss this further with staff off-line because
he thought there were some `good examples of things that may be done
differently.
That the
Transportation Committee receive this verbal presentation.